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Drawingaline

It was frustrating but we had two offers so we are chain complete (one we are hoping to buy, folks are moving back abroad) so fingers crossed we get the mortgage as it is too of our budget!

Homegrown0

Hi MeandO, I have just read all 88 pages of your diary over the last week and finally am up to speed. 

I admire you massively for your commitment to overpaying your mortgage and building up those savings pots. You really do so well to keep everything so balanced and have really given me inspiration to look at my own mortgage (and the difference that regular overpayments could make). 

I really feel for you with all the life stuff that you have going on - you are stronger than you think you are and I just hope that solving the home situation (and therefore taking that worry off your plate) will be the start of a little more happiness in your life. 

Going to subscribe to your diary and cheer you on

MeandO

Thank you for your kind words Homegrown0 and well done for reading the whole thing! So nice to have more company, the cheerleading is so very much appreciated. 

Yes, the little overpayments really do add up and I find it very motivational to chip away at the mortgage. Good luck with tackling your own.  

MeandO

Drawingaline said:

It was frustrating but we had two offers so we are chain complete (one we are hoping to buy, folks are moving back abroad) so fingers crossed we get the mortgage as it is too of our budget!

Fingers crossed for your sale Drawingaline and the mortgage too!

MeandO

Just a quick update for tonight as I am beyond exhausted tonight, have been all day really.
DS has been back with me for a couple of days and will be going back to his Dad’s tomorrow for a week. I agreed to the extra time as they have a ‘celebration’ on this week (don’t ask ) but feel like I have hardly seen DS lately. He is such a good child and I consider myself lucky that he is such good company and so well behaved, but I am noticing the more time he spends with his dad, girlfriend and her brood where the rules are few and far between, the kids seem to do what they want when they want and the place is a constant tip (their words, not mine), the more hard work he is for a few days when he comes home. I’ve found today difficult. Then I feel guilty saying that as I’m not going to see him for a week now. Typical ‘split family’ guilt I guess.  

There have been 3 more viewings on the house and one booked for tomorrow. I’ve had one ridiculous offer on the house which would have meant me losing £25k on what I paid for it, I politely declined. The viewers then got defensive and told me I should reconsider as they ‘want to change the garden so will need the spare money.’ Err, no.
I’ve tried to clean and polish everything as much as I can tonight but I will be scrubbing, hoovering and hiding clutter away more thoroughly tomorrow once DS goes to his Dad’s. Oh, and I need to cut the grass too.  I’m hoping and praying tomorrow will bring me a reasonable offer on the house, other issues have arisen in this area this week that have got me down and just made me want to run for the hills. I even considered the stupid offer at one point when feeling particularly low about living here.

The premium bonds and help to save DD’s have left the main account. The astute amongst you will notice that my savings have gone down by £700... The only explanation I have is that I spent it! I bought something that means quite a lot to me and my family which I have been looking for for around 6 years and would normally have cost me double the amount spent. It will also only increase in value, so I decided to go for it. I’m really pleased I did and don’t regret spending the money as it has been a planned and very considered purchase for years now. I also sold an unwanted part of the purchase on eBay for £120 the same weekend, so made some money back already.

I filled the car up with charity stuff at the weekend, only to drive there and find that the shop now shuts at weekends, so the only thing I achieved was to take 8 black bags of stuff on a 10 mile round trip ride out of my garage and back again. I’ll take it down on Friday instead and hopefully clear a big chunk of space. 

Right, off to bed for me now. Night all xx

MagicCat

Fingers crossed for the viewing! Some buyers are incredible, we had one who offered 30% lower than our asking price 'because she'd heard prices will drop by 30% after Brexit" and she didn't want to lose money! Needless to say we declined 

MeandO

What unbelievable cheek MagicCat! 
The same viewers upped their offer by £10k at the weekend, but it's still way too low than I can afford to take, so have politely declined again. There have been more viewings this weekend and a second viewing booked for tomorrow, so I have everything crossed I will received a good offer before the week is out.
There is nothing on the market that I would contemplate buying at the moment now though. Am feeling quite anxious about everything the past couple of days.

The regular mortgage payment has come out of the account, so the mortgage is now down to £98,178.72. I'll round it down to just under £98K when the tax credits and child benefit come in if I'm able to. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I have now gone through the CMA for maintenance from the ex. I knew it was around the right figure that he pays me now, but without going into detail, this way it safeguards things for the future. 
He'll be paying me an extra £1.06 from October, that may be an extra pair of socks for DS a month, if I shop around...

Chrystal

Much safer to make the maintainance legally binding, so well done on that.

Hope you have good news about the house sale soon and that a viable house comes up for sale for you, XX

MeandO

Thank you Chrystal x 

MeandO

Oh my gosh, my absolute dream house has just come on the market. It ticks absolutely every box I ever wanted, but (why does there always have to be a 'but' ), it's around £8K - £10K out of the top of my budget and there is so much interest on it already. It's just beautiful and even has the big tree in the garden that DS has craved for years. I feel so excited and so sad all at once as realistically, I have very little chance of 'winning' this house. Houses in that area are being sold for over asking price, even without people viewing them at the moment and my highest bid would be around £8K short of the asking price. That would mean me maxing my mortgage out too when I've just paid it down. I'm almost reluctant/frightened to even go and see it as I will be devastated when it is sold to someone other than me. Just once, I so wish lady luck would shine down on me.